Daventry musicians bring sweet harmony at concert

Daventry Music Centre held a Spring Recital at Holy Cross in Daventry recently.

The recital featured the junior orchestra, woodwind ensemble, jazz, chamber strings, guitars and concert band. Several of the younger members performed solos and duets ably accompanied by a senior member of DMC.

Anna Langton, secretary of the Friends of DMC, said: “For many of the younger musicians, it was their first public performance of a solo or duet.

“It is a nerve-wracking experience and reminded those of us who have more performance experience what it feels like.

“They played very well and treated the audience to a pleasant selection of well-known classical pieces and folk songs.”

She said the DMC Woodwind Ensemble and the Jazz Band had been invited to perform at the Music For Youth (MFY) Festival at the Cripps Theatre.

Anna added: “It gave them the opportunity to perform their festival pieces in public for the first time.

“The Woodwind Ensemble played ‘A Night on Bare Mountain’ by Modest Mussorgsky, a very atmospheric piece with several tempo changes and interesting tunes.”

“A Night on Bare Mountain” is one of the BBC Ten Pieces, 10 pieces of classical music that have been selected to open up the world of classical music to the current generation of school children. The children are invited to listen to the music, play it themselves and develop their own creative responses to it.

Northampton General Hospital (NGH) Choir for hospital staff and local healthcare workers were guests at the concert.

They sang “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen.

Anna said: “It was pleasure to hear such a good rendition with lovely harmonies.”

The Spring Recital raised £187 for the Chemotherapy Suite at Northampton General Hospital.